Colin Sheridan: Dubai’s influencer calm after Iranian missile strikes exposes the fragile illusion

Missiles over the Gulf expose the fragile illusion behind Dubai’s luxury brand — and the hidden labour sustaining its glittering skyline

An Iranian strike hits the port of Jebel Ali in Dubai on Sunday. Iranian missiles flying across the Gulf are not the sort of thing that fits easily into a real estate brochure. Picture: Fadel Senna/AFP via Getty Images

It was the reels that told us. In the early hours after Iranian missiles targeted American military facilities in the Gulf, a small army of Dubai-based influencers took to their phones to calm the nerves of the watching world. 

Speaking like Stormin' Norman Schwarzkopf on the eve of Desert Storm, they insisted, smoothie in hand, that the missile defence systems were working perfectly. The bottomless brunches were proceeding uninterrupted. The infinity pools were shimmering under an obedient sun.